Uchenna's Apples by Diane Duane

Author:Diane Duane [Duane, Diane]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Badfort Press
Published: 2013-02-03T00:00:00+00:00

6: Entrepreneurship

Half an hour later they were all sitting in among the trees at the back of the little park by the train station, where a few big boulders carved with Celtic spiral designs were scattered among low shrubs and plantings of heather. At the front of the park, on the development side, Adamstown mums could be seen pushing their babies on swings or sitting on nearby benches and gossiping while the wee’uns played in the giant sandbox. No one could see them from that side, which was as well, as Jimmy was still looking nervous about being here in the first place, and Uchenna kept wondering why.

“It’s so retro, though. Mowing lawns?” Emer said. “Why don’t we open a lemonade stand while we’re at it?”

Uchenna looked oddly at Emer. Emer rolled her eyes. “Sorry, sorry,” she said, waving her hands, “I keep forgetting, your lemonade is Seven-Up, not stuff you make at home. God, am I not in Kansas any more.” She looked around as if she’d lost something. “Where’s my little dog?”

“Will you cut it out,” Uchenna muttered. “And anyway you have a cat!”

“How’re we going to get the grass out of people’s yards and out to the horses?” Jimmy said.

“Bag it up,” Uchenna said. “Not in really big bags: or we won’t fill them all the way, anyway. Afterwards we’ll carry the grass to where the horses are.”

“It’s a good idea,” Emer said after a moment. “And it beats apples. At least the grass’ll keep them fed until we can find them something better.” She gave Uchenna a look. “Now all you have to do is convince your mam.”

This was in fact the very thing that Uchenna was half wishing she could put off. But there wasn’t any time: she had to get permission for this right away so they could start first thing in the morning. “So let’s get on with it,” she said. “You guys have to come with me.”

Jimmy’s eyes went a little worried. “What?” Uchenna said. “What’s the matter?”

“Not sure I should be seen a lot on that side of town,” Jimmy said, looking away toward the tiny children on the playground swings. “Me mam ‘n’ dad don’t go that way, they don’t want us to go much either—”

“It’s just until we figure out what else we can do about the horses,” Uchenna said. “Don’t worry about it. But we have to get started.” She got up and dusted herself off. “Come on, you guys can stay out in the Back Office while I deal with my mam.”

As they headed out of the park, Uchenna noticed that Emer seemed a little uneasy about something: nearly as uneasy as Jimmy did. “What?” she said under her breath to Emer at one point, when they were heading into Uchenna’s circle and Jimmy had dropped a little behind to tie one of his shoes.

“Nothing,” Emer said.

“Seriously, what?”

“I told you, nothing,” Emer muttered. Jimmy caught up with them. “Which one’s yours?” he said.

Uchenna pointed at her house with her chin as they headed toward it.

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